WOODBRIDGE — On his first mission as a gunner on a Navy torpedo bomber over Japan, the then 22-year-old Walter Lemiska had little time to think about the fire coming from anti-aircraft guns and enemy fighters.

That initial excitement wore off, and Lemiska endured 21 harrowing World War II missions, one more than needed to earn the Distinguished Flying Cross.

Yet he never received the medal — until last week.

Sixty-six years after serving, Lemiska, now 89 with four grandchildren and three great grandchildren, was honored in a ceremony at Woodbridge Town Hall.

"This evening, on behalf of the president of the United States, I have the honor of presenting him with the Distinguished Flying Cross," state Senator Joseph Vitale said of Lemiska.

Growing up in the Iselin section of Woodbridge, Lemiska was one of five brothers who served in the war.

As an aviation ordianceman 2nd Class, he served over Japan from Feb. 17 to May 11 of 1945. Off the carrier USS Langley, Lemiska flew with a crew attacking airfields, installations and military plants, including a bombing run on an aircraft manufacturing facility outside Tokyo while the battle raged on Iwo Jima.

"The first five missions I enjoyed. The next five I didn’t like. I was scared every time we (went) out after that," Lemiska said last week.

He received other medals, including honors for two particularly dangerous flights. So when he was discharged, Navy officials denied his request for the Distinguished Flying Cross, saying he had already been recognized for his service.

"I said to them, ‘You mean because I went on two more hazardous flights, I don’t get this?’ " he recalled.

Lemiska returned to New Jersey, married his wife, Gloria, of Jersey City, and they raised their daughter and son. But he never forgot about the medal.

When he applied for it again, the Navy wanted to see his copy of his flight log, a record misplaced in the six decades since his discharge.

His daughter and son-in-law pitched in, going on the internet to locate Lemiska’s former pilot, living in Wisconsin, and got the pilot’s flight log.

"Only 66 years late, but as they say in the Navy, better late than never," Vitale said in a statement.

Lemiska looks back with mixed feelings of the war-time service.

"It was a good experience. I don’t know if I’d have wanted to go through it again," he said.